Fly Far, Fly Fast
by SheerwaterPhoenix
Summary: If Shade has another companion with him on his journey, why shouldn't Goth? Phoenix rose from the dead before the first book/series and is brought up north along with Goth. OC is lost in the storm along with Shade and joins him and Marina on their journey. Goth/Phoenix, eventual Marina/Shade. Probably. Based on the show.
1. The Sun and the Owl

** So if Shade gets a bunch of stories where he has another friend coming with him on his adventures, why shouldn't Goth?**

** Phoenix rose from the Underworld before the first book/TV series and was captured along with Goth and Throbb and brought up north by the Humans.**

** Damien Silverwing (an OC of mine) is also knocked out of the sky during the storm along with Shade, and journeys with Shade and Marina to find the Silverwings.**

** I do not own Silverwing, Kenneth Oppel does, and the TV series belongs to Bardel.**

**Damien's POV**

"Way to go, Chinook!" cheered Todd, a male bat with teal fur and an orange mane and hair, as Chinook roosted on the branch with a tiger moth in his teeth.

"Who the bat; you the bat!" said Breeze, a pretty female with purple fur and blond hair. "Cool technique!" she added enthusiastically.

"I know," Chinook said smugly as he wolfed down the moth.

"That tiger moth never knew what hit him!" said Breeze. Damien sighed to himself. Breeze would never notice him. She had eyes only for Chinook.

"Yeah, neither did Shade!" Chinook said with a smirk.

"Hey, I coulda had it!" Shade argued, settling on the branch next to Chinook.

"Coulda, woulda, shoulda," Chinook said breezily, punctuating each word with a poke at Shade. Shade lost his balance and crashed into the branch below him.

"Twice," scoffed Todd.

"Don't sweat it, Runt. Only the best hunters can see though a tiger moth's echo protection."

"Echo _protection?" _Shade scoffed. "The word's echo _projection_ and don't call me 'Runt'!"

"Really?" Chinook shoved his face close. "Now, where was I before I was forced to eat yet _another _tiger moth?"

Shade and Damien both sighed.

"You were telling us about your dad?" Breeze offered.

"Oh, he's big," Chinook boasted, swinging into a standing position and flaring his impressive wings. "Big enough to kill an owl!"

"Wow," Breeze breathed admiringly.

"That's . . . even bigger than you said last time," Todd said doubtfully.

"Kill an owl?" Shade sneered. "I don't think so."

"You callin' me a liar, Runt?" Chinook growled.

"Yes, yes, you are a liar—"

"My father's _huge!"_ Chinook cried.

"No bat can kill an owl!"

Everyone looked at Damien in surprise, and he realized that _he'd _said that.

"You too, Runt?"

Damien was indeed a runt, even smaller than Shade. Chinook forgot about him most of the time, but teased him mercilessly when he _was_ noticed.

"Sun's coming up," said Breeze nervously as the dawn chorus sounded. "Better get back to Tree Haven."

"Yeah," added Todd. "Come on, Chinook. Let's go."

"You two better watch your mouths," Chinook growled, glaring at Shade and Damien. The three and Damien spread their wings, but Shade didn't budge.

"Come on, Shade!" Breeze cried as they flew.

"You guys go," Shade said. "I'm gonna hang around here and see the sun," he announced.

Damien gasped, but managed to avoid crashing into Breeze, Chinook, and Todd as they collided.

"See the _sun?" _Todd said, disbelieving.

"Yeah," Shade said. "You heard me."

"Oh, I heard you," said Chinook. He snorted. "I don't believe you."

"You can't be outside when the sun comes up!" Breeze cried. "The owls will kill you!"

Shade just smirked. "Don't believe me, Chinook? Then join me. Aren't you curious?" he challenged.

"Maybe I am, Runt," Chinook said, not wanting to ruin his reputation.

"Are you out of your mind?" Todd exclaimed. "It's against the law!"

"It's a stupid law!" said Shade. "Right, Chinook?" He smirked again. Chinook was shocked.

"Guys, it's morning, and we should really be inside," Todd stuttered nervously.

"I'm with ya, Todd," Breeze said and they glided away.

"Shade," Damien started, "this really isn't the best idea, you could get killed—"

"You're scared, too?" Shade said loudly. "Fine! Fly away! Go!"

Damien looked at him, startled. Shade was never like this. What happened? Did Chinook finally push him over the edge?

**Shade's POV**

Damien stared at him in shock. The smaller bat flew away and Shade felt guiltily smug. He had already proved himself braver than three—Todd, Breeze, and Damien.

"So," Chinook said. "What're we going to do? Hang out?"

"I was thinking we'd fly up top," Shade suggested. "Get a better view."

"Really!" Chinook said nervously as Shade flapped up to a tall tree and roosted, a great view of the skyline. He knew Chinook would never back down from a challenge like this. As Shade had expected, the stronger bat had no choice but to roost beside him.

Light flickered on the horizon. Shade stared at it hungrily, wanting more.

"Well, I guess that's the sun," Chinook said quickly. "Let's head back."

Shade held back a smirk. "That's just the prelude."

"Oh. Okay." He paused. "Sure hope there's no owls around, right?" His voice was less steady, quieter too.

Shade snorted. "Why should you care?" he snapped. "According to you, bats can kill owls," he said with a smirk.

"Hey," said Chinook after a moment. "You know what I was just thinking? We could, uh, not see the sun and say we saw it."

"Oh?" Shade was enjoying this. He finally had power over Chinook. "Really?" He drew out the last word.

The larger bat nodded nervously, his eyes darting around in paranoia and he trembled, biting at his claws habitually. Shade could tell that he willed himself to stay on that branch, to not let the runt beat him. But it was no use. Shade couldn't suppress a broad grin as Chinook's fear overcame him and he flew away in a rush of anxious wingbeats.

Shade gazed at the glowing skyline blissfully, and as a magnificent sliver of the sun had peeked out from behind the horizon, Shade shielded his eyes with a wing but soon removed it—the sun was . . . amazing!

"It's so . . . beautiful!" he breathed in awe, leaning forward. "And . . . warm!"

But as the sun was about to clear the horizon, Shade heard a horrible screeching cry and suddenly a feathery mass, talons slashing, eyes glaring, was plunging down at him.

Shade shouted in surprise and dropped from his roost, hurriedly flapping to stay ahead of the owl that just demolished the branch that Shade had been roosting on mere seconds ago.

He dived down and flew through a log half-buried in the ground. His breathing was already ragged as he narrowly avoided the talons crashing through the bark at him. Soon he was out of the log and the owl was directly behind him. An idea came to him and he looked behind him to judge his distance from the owl. Yes, it would work! Shade lunged at a branch that was small enough for him to pull back and he sank his claws into it, pulling with all his might. He grunted in exertion as he tugged at the branch and as the owl flew by, he released it and it smashed into the owl's face, knocking it out of the sky. Shade shot forward—and crashed into the owl that suddenly loomed up before him.

**Goth's POV**

The Man stepped into the false jungle, armed with a long, sharp dart. Goth bared his teeth at him and growled. The Man made a strange, deep noise and took another step that thundered around the cage.

The weakling Throbb cowered and hid his head beneath his wings. But the Man wasn't interested in Throbb. Goth saw that his eyes were fixed on Phoenix, or, more specifically, at her black teeth that were snarling at him.

As the Man walked with horribly loud steps toward Phoenix, the female spun away and flapped in place in a high corner. Her eyes glinted savagely in anger and she dived.

Goth jerked his head back in surprise. Why was Phoenix—

Of course—she was attacking the Man. She hadn't done this in a while, and Goth was sure she knew it was futile, but here she was trying it again.

"Zotz curse you!" she shrieked as she raked her black fangs down his shoulder. The Man's hard eyes, including his dead one, flashed coldly. The Man stayed calm as he raised the dart and positioned it to jab at Phoenix's side. She fought on, oblivious to the needle.

"Phoenix!" Goth roared as the needle was plunged into her side.

**A/N: I LOVE Phoenix! She's epic! And Goth, too! And I ship them! *fangirl warning* EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**

**On Halloween, I saw a girl in a ZOTZ candy costume. Do you have ANY idea how tempting it was to roar, "HOW DARE YOU BLASPHEME THE ALMIGHTY KING OF DARKNESS?!" like Goth did in the show? And when everyone would look at me like I was demented I would hiss, "_You know nothing of Zotz." _SO FREAKING TEMPTING!**

**Mwahahahahahahahahahaha!**

**I'm so weird.**


	2. Accusation

**Shade's POV**

Shade let out a gasp of fear and burrowed deep into the owl's plumage, hoping uselessly that the owl wouldn't be able to reach him. As expected, a sharp beak snatched him up and tore him from the owl's chest. He tumbled through the air and shouted wordlessly as he angled his wings and flapped away from the owl.

Breathing hard, he swooped down low, flying across the lake that led to Tree Haven. He could make it, he knew he could make it. . . . He gasped as the owl plunged down at him, trapping him with its talons underwater between two rocks. He struggled, his breath was running out, his lungs were burning, and the fact that he was out of breath even before the owl tried to drown him wasn't helping either. . . .

He sucked in a huge gulp of air as he pulled out of the crevice and into the sky, making a beeline for the entrance knothole to Tree Haven: he bolted inside, barely avoiding the owl's terrifying, slashing talons. Shade flinched away in fear as the owl scraped its talons along the wood of the tree, missing him by mere inches. The owl flew away with a few final swoops around the nursery roost, glaring.

"Shade Cassiel Silverwing!" a worried voice cried from behind him. "Thank Nocturna you're safe!" his mother, Ariel, sighed, enfolding him in her wings. Then she held him at arm's length. "What were you _doing _out there?" she cried in a strangled voice.

"Nothing . . ." Shade mumbled sheepishly. He should've thought of this before he dared Chinook—his mother was going to ground him for the rest of his life, everyone would hate him, the owls would want revenge, problems with Chinook would get even worse. . . . Not good, not good!

"_Nothing!" _Ariel shouted. "THAT OWL NEARLY KILLED YOU!"

"I — I got away!" Shade protested feebly.

"Do you have any idea what you've _done?"_ She spread her wings in despair. "Oh, Shade," she murmured, shaking her head. She put a claw to her forehead. "You broke the law."

The entire colony was whispering to each other and staring at him, horrified. His own mouth fell open as he realized what he had done. _He'd broken the law._

He laughed at that stupid law, it was ridiculous. So, _why_ was he worried?

_The owls knew._

**Damien's POV**

Damien watched from a distance as Todd and Breeze flapped down to speak to Shade.

"You are in so much guano!" Todd said to Shade. "Chinook's gonna be grounded for a week!"

"Why?" asked Shade. "He didn't do anything, the big mouse!"

"So, Shade, did ya see it? You know . . . !" Breeze smiled secretively at Shade. _So now it's Shade,_ Damien thought. _Great._

"Todd!" said Todd's mother crossly in a sharp voice. "Roost!" she ordered. Breeze and Todd hopped a few steps and took off for their roosts.

"Ariel!" said Todd's mother angrily. "_This has gone too far_."

"_Far _too far," echoed Breeze's mom coldly.

Chinook's mother, Isis, hopped forward and roosted, face right up to Ariel's. "Keep that lawbreaker away from my baby!"

Shade scoffed, obviously in an attempt to blow it off. "That's a laugh. . . ." But Ariel ordered him back to his roost.

_That owl chased him? _Damien thought worriedly. _That means it knows that he broke the law! They're gonna want revenge, this can't be good!_

He closed his eyes and pulled his wings tighter around him, despite the warm summer air.

. . .

Damien awoke to words hissed a few roosts away.

"Psst! Wake up you two!" He recognized the voice—Mercury. The smallest bat in the colony looked over and saw Mercury leaning over Shade and Ariel.

"What is it?" Damien heard Ariel whisper.

"The council of elders has met," Mercury growled. "They want to see _both _of you _now_."

Shade gasped. "But only adults go up there!" he cried softly.

"Shh!" Mercury hissed. "Yes, _and_ anyone who looks at the sun. So spit-wash your face and follow me." He arched his wings and begin flapping towards the elders' roost with powerful beats of his wings.

Damien's interest was piqued. What did the elders want Shade for? Were the owls here for revenge? Darting a glance at his mother, and when he was sure she was asleep, Damien loosened his claws from the bark and followed Shade, Ariel, and Mercury as silently as he could.

He watched the three bats land on a wooden ledge and clung under it, digging his claws in deep. He was just able to peer at Shade, Ariel, and the elders above him.

The elders' eyes glinted as the spread their wings and glided down to the ledge just above Shade's. "Shade Silverwing, step forward," commanded the lead elder, Frieda, holding her wing out. Ariel withdrew her protective wings from around Shade and he shook as he took a step towards the elders.

"You have broken the most ancient law of our colony," Frieda stated and there was a flash of silver on her forearm. A beam of moonlight was shining through a chink in the bark of Tree Haven and caught a metal object on Frieda's forearm. Damien's eyes widened and he saw Shade as mesmerized by it as he was. Frieda followed Shade's gaze and saw he was staring at it, but let it go. "Do you have an explanation?"

"Just youthful exuberance and curiosity!" Ariel cried desperately, jumping forward to once again enfold Shade in her wings. "He only—" she began to say but she was interrupted by a menacing voice.

"Curiosity that will be the ruin of this colony," hissed the growling voice. The speaker was a large elder whose face was twisted into a permanent scowl. "The owls _will_ want retribution, and quite frankly who can blame them?"

"Silence!" Frieda ordered, then turned back to Shade and his mother. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?" she asked Shade in a much gentler tone.

"No, no, he doesn't!" Ariel cried. "He's just a boy!"

"Y-yes," Shade said loudly. "I-I do." Ariel stepped away in shock and Damien stifled a gasp of surprise as Shade locked eyes with Frieda, saying, "The law is . . . wrong."

Damien almost fell off of his precarious position, clinging under the ledge. Wrong? Damien thought. It doesn't really make sense, but we're just fine in the night! We don't need the light.

"_What?_" the scowling elder snarled, outraged.

"Shade!" Ariel admonished.

"Let the boy speak!" Frieda declared.

The scowling elder ignored her. "Listen you insolent upstart!" she hissed angrily. "That law guarantees our very _existence."_

"Bathsheba," Frieda said warningly, raising her claw for silence. So that's the elder's name, thought Damien.

"Go on."

"Well . . ." Shade started, " what's wrong with bats seeing the sun?" he asked. "I didn't turn to stone. The only reason we can't be out in daylight is because of the owls. It's unfair."

"I've heard enough," said Frieda, raising a claw.

"Indeed," growled Bathsheba. Frieda turned to look at her. "We have no choice but to hand that lawbreaker over to the owls." Damien sucked in a breath.

"What?" Ariel screamed. "No! Please! Frieda—"

"_And _we should do it now, before the owls come for him," Bathsheba decreed.

"I will take the appropriate action at the appropriate time," Frieda calmly told Bathsheba, flaring her wings briefly. The shorter elder glared at her and crossed her forearms.

Frieda spread her long wings and swooped to Shade's ledge. Damien felt a whoosh of air as she landed an inch or less away from him. He stilled his breathing.

"Come with me," the lead elder said gently to Shade. Ariel looked at Shade and Frieda and back to Shade, aghast. Was Frieda really going to take Shade to the owls?

"Ariel," Frieda spoke commandingly. "It's for the good of the colony."

So she was really going to do it. She was going to sacrifice Shade to the owls. A wave of horror swept over Damien.

Ariel looked at Shade sadly. "Shade," she whispered. "Go with Frieda."

Shade squeezed his eyes shut and wrapped his wings tightly around himself in fear, but stepped toward Frieda. She spread her wings and swooped down, followed by Shade. Damien scrambled to get out of the way, so they wouldn't see him, but he lost his grip and fell from under the ledge with a shout of surprise.

Frieda glanced at him. She barely even seemed to be taken aback that he was there.

"You may come as well," she said.

His heart was beating fast and he nodded, afraid, as he flapped wildly in midair. He followed the other two bats as they descended to the roots of the Tree Haven.

They emerged in a dark, almost spherical chamber, the walls a deep aqua blue. The ground of the chamber was shrouded in a thick fog. Damien could make out a circular pool beneath it. Water dripped, the sound filling the space.

Damien gasped, amazed.

"Roost there," Frieda ordered as she swung upside down to roost from a twisted root. The two runts complied.

"I don't understand," said Shade. Neither did Damien. Wasn't Frieda taking Shade to the owls?

"Where are we?" Damien asked.

"This room is called the Echo Chamber." Frieda's voice sounded regal, majestic somehow. "It holds all of our colony's history, sung by Silverwings long dead. The walls of the chamber are polished so smoothly they will echo here forever."

"What's that sound?" Shade wondered aloud in askance, tilting his head. "It's like . . . it's like someone's whispering."

"Someone hundreds, even thousands of migrations ago," Frieda said. Damien stared at her in amazement, straining his ears to make out words from the ancient, whispered song. He couldn't separate the different stories.

"But what're they saying?" inquired Damien.

"You tell me. Simply concentrate and listen."

The two younger bats closed their eyes and listened as carefully as they could, but couldn't make the words out.

"I hear so many voices," Damien told her. "They're all speaking at once."

"Pick one," Frieda answered simply.

**I don't really know why I cut out here. Probably because it would get a kinda long compared to the first chapter. And sorry for not writing a bit with the Vampyrum, I just couldn't think of anything. Heh heh heh. . . .**


	3. Burning Punishment

**I just think I should say that I'm only including Damien in this story because it's ridiculously unfair for two tiny bats against three Vampyrum. This is not OC centric; I just wanted Phoenix.**

**Shade's POV**

_Gray fog filled his echo vision, but then he saw dark leaves looming out of the mist. As they unfolded and gave way to trees, a powerful male voice said, "Many seasons past, at the dawning of the ages. . . ." A snake, twisted around a branch, hissed._

_ The voice changed to a female's, commanding and majestic, like Frieda's. "The birds and the beasts existed without order." A bird chirped, a beast roared. The beast stalked off and pounced on a bush filled with fleeing prey._

_ "No one knew the hunters from the hunted." A beast bared its teeth and snarled, only to be felled by a flock of birds with a few swift pecks._

_ "All creatures struggled for their place in a world without boundaries." The voice was a female's, this one calm and sad. A young deer drank from a pool of water, and then was snapped up by a wolf. The wolf was crushed by a bear, which was in turn ripped to shreds by a bird with a horrible tearing sound._

_ "Alliances were formed and war was waged between the two great kingdoms," narrated the male. Deadly birds spread their wings threateningly and glared at the enemy. Beasts roared and snarled with their terrible fangs showing. Flames raged, and Shade almost felt as if they were scorching his ears._

_ "The birds and the beasts," said a third female voice, old and hoarse. The cry of a hawk pierced the air._

_ All four voices spoke the next line. "But we bats, being both but neither, refused to join the battle."_

_ Two high, jagged cliffs rose in Shade's mind. Beasts prowled along the edges and birds flew above. An owl perched on a jagged rock between the two cliffs—but the bats roosted, apart from the others._

_ "When the war finally ended, the Great Treaty was forged," recited the four voices. The male continued, soon joined by the female who sounded like Frieda. "Because we refused to take sides, the birds and the beasts banished us," the owl flared his wings in judgement, "for all eternity, to the darkness of the night." The bats fled into a cave and gray mist swirled. Shade opened his eyes and was met with the eerie, misty blue-green of the Echo Chamber._

"We were forbidden from ever glimpsing the sun again," Frieda finished.

"Is _that _how we got stuck with the law?" Shade burst out angrily. "Oh, that is so unfair! I _hate _the owls!" he declared.

"You must learn to rule your anger and not let your anger rule you," Frieda warned him sternly. "Only foolish deeds will come of that." Shade saw Damien nodding in agreement on his other side.

Shade heard someone swooping down and saw that it was Mercury.

"Pardon me, Frieda," the messenger said urgently, a worried look on his face. "Brutus, Supreme Commander of the owls, has arrived."

Shade gasped.

**Damien's POV**

Damien and Shade arrived along with Frieda at the crown of Tree Haven. The owl general was already there, a hulking figure with hornlike feathers on his head and three golden stripes on each wing. Damien glanced nervously at Brutus's enormous talons, swallowing.

"General Brutus," Frieda addressed the owl, "please accept my deepest apologies for keeping you waiting."

"Where is the boy?" The owl's deep voice was even more menacing that Damien had predicted. He shrank back into a crag in the bark.

"He's over there," Frieda said calmly, gesturing with a claw. Todd, Breeze, and Chinook flapped away from Shade, not wanting to be confused with the lawbreaker. Ariel landed next to him, supportively wrapping a wing about his shoulders.

"Bring him to me—so we can settle this," Brutus barked.

Frieda clenched a fist decisively. "No," she said firmly, narrowing her eyes challengingly at Brutus.

"Do as I say, bat!" ordered the owl, but Frieda again refused him unflinchingly.

"Frieda! Such a decision jeopardizes the balance of nature!"

"Brutus," Frieda sighed, "you and I have flown in this forest for to long. You can't surely believe this unreasonable foolishness?"

"I will not be manipulated," said the owl coldly.

"General Brutus, with all due respect, as head of this colony I stand firm on this. No Silverwing will be sacrificed for the sake of your unjust law!"

Damien was both shocked and amazed. Frieda was so incredibly brave. To speak to an owl like that, General Brutus nonetheless!

"_Unjust law!_" Brutus bellowed, unfurling his wings in anger. He slammed into the branch that the elders were standing on, shoving his face close to Frieda's.

"Give us the boy," Brutus growled.

"No," Frieda states, surprisingly calmly. "I have spoken." She said it in a final way, allowing no room for argument.

Brutus glared at her for a long time before saying, "Very well. Prepare to suffer the consequences!" He lifted into the air with a few beats of his gigantic feathered wings, yellow eyes glowering.

Damien felt sick to his stomach. What were the owls going to do?

**Shade's POV**

The colony chattered nervously—and then there was a strangled cry of "_Look!"_

Every bat stared in horror at where Bathsheba was pointing.

It was the owls.

With fire.

The Silverwing colony took to the air immediately, fleeing as far as they could, as fast as they could. With a sharp battle cry, the owls plunged towards Tree Haven, flinging their burning torches at its rough, knotted bark and twisted limbs.

_No! _Shade thought desperately, launching himself from his roost and spiraling back into the hollow trunk of the tree. His colony's home was being burned down by owls and it was his doing. He had to do something about this. He flapped uselessly at the growing flames with a small leaf, failing miserably to put it out, along with his mother.

Then there was a terrible cracking noise and then Shade was shoved to the side, nearly falling over. He whirled around to see Ariel trapped under a branch. He barely had time to register that she had just saved his life and was already straining to lift the tree limb.

"Help!" the runt cried desperately. "Help! Argh, somebody help us!"

Shade spotted a familiar dark blue shape swooping towards them. Normally he would've told Chinook to get _out _of here, but Ariel needed help _now._

"Chinook!" That was the first time that Shade had ever been glad to see the larger Silverwing.

"You need some muscle, Runt. Let me in there," Chinook said, grasping the branch and together with Shade managing to lift it. Ariel was able to crawl out in the second that the two were able to lift it.

"Thanks, Chinook," Shade said, breathing hard. He never thought he would ever say this. "I owe you one."

"Look around," Chinook said coldly. "It's not just me you owe.

Shade did, ridden with guilt. The screaming, shrieking bats were fleeing the licking flames, sending sizzling sparks flying into the night. He and his mother followed the others.

"Silverwings retreat! We must all retreat now!" shouted Frieda. Shade was partially shocked to see a panicked expression on calm, wise Frieda's face.

His home was gone. _It's too late, _he thought in despair.

Shade and his colony could only watch as their home burnt to ashes.

**Phoenix's POV**

Why had Zotz let her be captured by these foolish Humans, let her be poked and prodded and stabbed with needles? She had served him well in the Underworld for _centuries!_

Phoenix growled and attacked one of the puny mice that the Humans fed to the Vampyrum. She bit down on its neck and swallowed but felt no satisfaction in the kill as she did in the real jungle. The mouse tasted of metallic water.

Phoenix had been examined by the Man and the other Humans more than Goth and Throbb had. She suspected it was because of her obsidian teeth—she had woken in the Underworld with them, a gift from Zotz to better serve him.

She would find a way out of this false jungle, along with Goth. They would escape from here. They _would._

Phoenix bared her black fangs in anticipation.


End file.
